Heavy is the Head That Wears the Crown: Sandhills/Thedford, D-2
When the pieces all came together there was no stopping Sandhills/Thedford, not in Lincoln, not on the Monday before Thanksgiving.
Having already dispatched Class D-2 No. 1 seed Johnson-Brock by 32 points and followed up with a 33-18 win over top-ranked South Loup in the semifinals, avenging their only loss, the Knights then steamrolled No. 2 seed Wynot, 50-12, to win the program’s first-ever state title. It was as impressive a postseason run as any by last year’s state football champions, a most memorable and enjoyable month of football.
“The best memory that I will have is just watching these boys have a lot of fun. The way the communities come together and supported the boys was pretty spectacular too,” says Sandhills/Thedford head coach Tyson Cox. “I would say one of the best assets of the 2023 team, our teams which came before, and hopefully the teams yet to come is the pride these boy take in being on ST Knights football team. The physicality that this team played with was a major asset as well.
“Another huge part of our team’s overall success is the contributions by our assistant coaches, Cade Pokorny and Russell Licking. They do a lot of work with both the offensive and defensive lines and linebackers, and to what they have accomplished with the players at those positions were huge in our success,” adds Coach Cox.
A 2023 preseason top ten team, Sandhills/Thedford won its first three games of the season before the loss to South Loup. What followed was four dominant wins, the closest by 27 points and that one wasn’t that close, before launching into its impressive postseason drive. The 2024 team will be led by senior quarterback Kyle Cox, Huskerland’s Class D-2 player of the year, and others in a strong core group. Here is Coach Cox’s take on his team leaders for this year’s team:
“Carson Cooksley (FB/S) will be more of our vocal leader and a kid that plays extremely physical. He’s a talented kid that plays well on both sides of the ball that can play just about anywhere on the field.”
“Kyle Cox (QB/S) is not the most vocal leader but the guy everyone looks to when we need a spark or someone the team needs to lean on. He’s a quick athletic kid that understands football as good as anyone. Kyle’s leadership away from the field is big for our team. He is a leader in the weight room and the school.”
“Caden Zutavern (TE/DE) truly represents what it means to be a ST Knight. Last year he was always willing to do whatever he needed to do to help us be successful. At halftime in last year’s semifinals Caden said with all the confidence in the world that “we will not lose this game” and I really think everyone bought in to that.”
“Tyson Hickman (C/NG) will be a big part to the 2024 team. He and Caden will be our leaders on the offensive line. He knows our schemes and line calls really well. I think he really stepped his game up in the state championship game and will continue to get better.
“All in all we will have a big, tight group of seniors with a lot of experience playing really good football and it will be fun to watch them.”
Maybe so but the Knights also will close some mighty impressive players to graduation, all-state linemen Zeb Wilde and Brady Dahlberg foremost among them. That means there is still work to do, with Coach Cox certain his team leaders will see to it things are done right.
“This offseason will be key to next year. With this group of seniors I can see this summer’s weight program having as much success as you can ask for. We are also getting a really nice new weight room that is right beside the football field so I’m sure there will be some good stuff happen this summer,” he says. Sandhills/Thedford will also compete in a couple of team camps this summer, including one they will host at Dunning, along with some of the players attending individual camps. “Maybe the biggest key to the off season what goes on after they get done with their workouts in the summer because the ‘team time’ they get running routes working on footwork and just playing school yard ball is huge for team continuity.”
On the whole the Knights seem perfectly capable of making a very strong defense of its state championship. They will again field a veteran team playing with a chip on its shoulder.
“We have a lot of experience coming back this year and they are a very determined group. The loss to a really good Central Valley team a couple years ago (2022 second round) really ignited this group of boys and they have been working hard ever since,” says Coach Cox. “After the last four years they realize how hard it is to make it through the playoffs and win in Lincoln and they are working hard to get back there. I guess I’m also looking forward to the actual season and everything that comes with it, the communities coming together, the game day excitement, the practice and game prep but mostly it’s working with the boys on our team that I’m most looking forward to in 2024.”